English Advanced Question Thread

[lozil]

Hey conic! Will massively agree with Sarah, a body paragraph that scores 20/20 in one essay question can score less than 10 in another if it doesn't suit, you must adapt as you go. I'm not a fan of memorising at all (I make this pretty obvious ), but if you do want to do it, then you need to be actively answering the question as you do. Be prepared to adjust your ideas accordingly

Hi, I'm having this problem as well... There's so much information and variety in each text that I don't really understand how anyone could create a perfect essay on the spot, answering an unseen question in 40 mins!! So what I tend to do is write a draft essay with maybe 5 or 6 paragraphs (and then choose my most suitable 3 on the day) and mold my topic sentence to the question. However, I'm finding that for some of the questions, especially the more left-of-field ones, the paragraphs I've prepared don't really fit... Again, I don't understand how you could memorise quotes from the whole text and just spontaneously pick and choose on the day to create a perfect response, so do you have any tips for better preparing?

[jamonwindeyer]

I had some questions is narration a technique?

Hey! No, not unqualified, it is not

For this criteria is it basically asking for analysis of techniques and its effect?
Explains how responses to a text are influenced by changing socio-cultural and historical contexts.

Spot on! Linked to sociocultural/historical factors, how different audiences will respond to the same portrayal with the same technique!

[jamonwindeyer]

Hi, I'm having this problem as well... There's so much information and variety in each text that I don't really understand how anyone could create a perfect essay on the spot, answering an unseen question in 40 mins!! So what I tend to do is write a draft essay with maybe 5 or 6 paragraphs (and then choose my most suitable 3 on the day) and mold my topic sentence to the question. However, I'm finding that for some of the questions, especially the more left-of-field ones, the paragraphs I've prepared don't really fit... Again, I don't understand how you could memorise quotes from the whole text and just spontaneously pick and choose on the day to create a perfect response, so do you have any tips for better preparing?

Hey lozil! Welcome to the forums!!

So I'm a little different in approach to Elyse and the other English mods, because I made up all my essays on the spot An on-the-spot piece can do just as well as a prepared piece (take this 20/20 exemplar I wrote in my CSSA, on the spot)!

I would prepare for these essays in two ways; First, I'd make quote sheets to memorise my ideas. Techniques, quotes and their impact on the audience. The effort I saved by not memorising, I invested here - I remembered about 30 quotes per module (my speeches module was significantly more). Think of it this way; Rather than memorising a battle plan, I just loaded up on a whole bunch of ammunition. I went Rambo on it, I suppose.

Besides that, the best thing is practice. Although I never memorised essays, I did develop my patterns and ideas by continually using them in practice exams (and getting these essays marked is really important as well). Practice makes perfect, and although practicing essays is not the best way to spend an afternoon, it's essential for being really prepared in the exam room

Would uploading the quote sheets I used be helpful for you? I reckon I could find them, you could see exactly what I prepared let me know!

[conic curve]

Hey lozil! Welcome to the forums!!

So I'm a little different in approach to Elyse and the other English mods, because I made up all my essays on the spot An on-the-spot piece can do just as well as a prepared piece (take this 20/20 exemplar I wrote in my CSSA, on the spot)!

I would prepare for these essays in two ways; First, I'd make quote sheets to memorise my ideas. Techniques, quotes and their impact on the audience. The effort I saved by not memorising, I invested here - I remembered about 30 quotes per module (my speeches module was significantly more). Think of it this way; Rather than memorising a battle plan, I just loaded up on a whole bunch of ammunition. I went Rambo on it, I suppose.

Besides that, the best thing is practice. Although I never memorised essays, I did develop my patterns and ideas by continually using them in practice exams (and getting these essays marked is really important as well). Practice makes perfect, and although practicing essays is not the best way to spend an afternoon, it's essential for being really prepared in the exam room

Would uploading the quote sheets I used be helpful for you? I reckon I could find them, you could see exactly what I prepared let me know!

Jamon do you think writing essay paragraphs on specific aspects of discovery, themes or historical time frames is effective (and then adapting it to a new essay question)

To me I'm not really bothered memorising a 1000 word essay. It's like a huge chunk of the world's biggest pie that you can't really swallow straight away ahaha

[jamonwindeyer]

Jamon do you think writing essay paragraphs on specific aspects of discovery, themes or historical time frames is effective (and then adapting it to a new essay question)

To me I'm not really bothered memorising a 1000 word essay. It's like a huge chunk of the world's biggest pie that you can't really swallow straight away ahaha

Do you mean like memorising them? In that case no; I'm heavily biased against memorisation and I'm happy to admit that practicing different paragraph structures is something I highly recommend though!!

That said, if you do want to memorise something, doing it in paragraph chunks is what I recommend, much more versatile

[conic curve]

Do you mean like memorising them? In that case no; I'm heavily biased against memorisation and I'm happy to admit that practicing different paragraph structures is something I highly recommend though!!

That said, if you do want to memorise something, doing it in paragraph chunks is what I recommend, much more versatile

How did you study other than memorising quotes and appying them to questions?

[jamonwindeyer]

How did you study other than memorising quotes and appying them to questions?

For English, that is pretty much all I did! Memorised my quotes and wrote practice essays, that was all I did in the lead up to HSC (and pretty much all year too tbh)

[conic curve]

For English, that is pretty much all I did! Memorised my quotes and wrote practice essays, that was all I did in the lead up to HSC (and pretty much all year too tbh)

I think I'm going to have to now memorise my essay paragraphs (not 1000 word essays with an intro, 3 bodies and a conclusion but an essay paragraph of approximately 250-300 words like you'd have in one essay paragraph) and somehow make it adapt to the new essay question and memorise my quotes as well

I'm pretty sure that this is better than memorising essays since you're memorising little chunks (in my opinion)

How do you adapt your essay paragraphs to new essay questions though (I'm quite bad at adapting)?

[ssarahj]

I think I'm going to have to now memorise my essay paragraphs (not 1000 word essays with an intro, 3 bodies and a conclusion but an essay paragraph of approximately 250-300 words like you'd have in one essay paragraph) and somehow make it adapt to the new essay question and memorise my quotes as well

I'm pretty sure that this is better than memorising essays since you're memorising little chunks (in my opinion)

How do you adapt your essay paragraphs to new essay questions though (I'm quite bad at adapting)?

Every topic sentence for each paragraph should be written to directly answer the question and once you get more confident you can add sentences or change phrasing within the paragraphs to address specific parts of the question or use actual words from the question.

A quick and easy way to practise adapting can be grab a practise question, set a timer for about 7-8 minutes and try and write an introduction and topic sentences for each of your paragraphs. This helps to practise adapting under time conditions without having to sit down and write for 40 minutes.

[g98]

Hi, I am just wondering if anyone has chosen Steven Spielberg's 2012 movie 'Lincoln' as a related text for Module C - People and Politics?
Thanks

[conic curve]

Hi, I am just wondering if anyone has chosen Steven Spielberg's 2012 movie 'Lincoln' as a related text for Module C - People and Politics?
Thanks

I haven't watched that movie but the most common related texts for Mod C people and politics are: animal farm, bladerunner, gatacca, V for vendetta, do android of electric sheep? and piggybook

Assuming you're doing a text to do with totalitarianism and utopia, it's best to search on the interent

You should get a related text which fits the whole Mod C rubric perfectly

[Lauradf36]

Another Mod C question - should your related texts ideally be different text types/mediums? I was just in the process of doing a second speech for my related material and was like... wait... is this a good idea??

[conic curve]

Another Mod C question - should your related texts ideally be different text types/mediums? I was just in the process of doing a second speech for my related material and was like... wait... is this a good idea??

IDK if this is true or not but I heard that HSC markers are looking for different types of mediums rather than that one type of medium (i.e. if your prescribed text was a novel, they'd rather you do a play or a film). The reason being is because you want to show them that you have demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of synthesing ideas in a range of texts rather than 1

[jamonwindeyer]

Another Mod C question - should your related texts ideally be different text types/mediums? I was just in the process of doing a second speech for my related material and was like... wait... is this a good idea??

IDK if this is true or not but I heard that HSC markers are looking for different types of mediums rather than that one type of medium (i.e. if your prescribed text was a novel, they'd rather you do a play or a film). The reason being is because you want to show them that you have demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of synthesing ideas in a range of texts rather than 1

This is an interesting one! So the thing here is that the markers like a variety of techniques, showing that you can consider different representational approaches. Like, someone can have great ideas, but if they go the typical 'symbolism' all the time then the marker is less impressed. Now this variety can be made easier by using two texts of different mediums; film and novel, novel and poem, poem and documentary, etc. However, this is secondary to choosing a related text that works for the module, and works with how you want to analyse your prescribed text.

If you can get the variety of techniques with two novels, then go for it, that's awesome. You can even draw some cool parallels on how two texts of identical mediums and themes approach the idea differently. If you want two different mediums to make it easier to get some variety, go for that! Much a personal preference on this one

[lozil]

Hey lozil! Welcome to the forums!!

So I'm a little different in approach to Elyse and the other English mods, because I made up all my essays on the spot An on-the-spot piece can do just as well as a prepared piece (take this 20/20 exemplar I wrote in my CSSA, on the spot)!

I would prepare for these essays in two ways; First, I'd make quote sheets to memorise my ideas. Techniques, quotes and their impact on the audience. The effort I saved by not memorising, I invested here - I remembered about 30 quotes per module (my speeches module was significantly more). Think of it this way; Rather than memorising a battle plan, I just loaded up on a whole bunch of ammunition. I went Rambo on it, I suppose.

Besides that, the best thing is practice. Although I never memorised essays, I did develop my patterns and ideas by continually using them in practice exams (and getting these essays marked is really important as well). Practice makes perfect, and although practicing essays is not the best way to spend an afternoon, it's essential for being really prepared in the exam room

Would uploading the quote sheets I used be helpful for you? I reckon I could find them, you could see exactly what I prepared let me know!

Hi Jamon, yeah, the quote sheets would help a lot! I guess I've just got to do a whole bunch of practise papers.....